SHOWCASE Vol.1 in Pictures

photo credits to: Andrew Lin, Colin Wan, Hong Aun Lung & Ko Hwee Ngee

Spinworkx King of the Spin 2013: Knockout Tournament

At the premier SHOWCASE competition, we decided to hold another of our newly labeled 'King of the Spin' friendly/fun contest for everyone who were in attendance at SHOWCASE Vol. 1. This mystery competition would allow Spinners from varying levels to participate in and have fun at. None of the 'point-whoring', string hit conventions from regular competitions. So in this blog entry, we will detail how it all went down and what the participants needed to do to be crowned the King of the Spin for 2013.

The first round, there were 23 competitors and all of them were forced to challenge each other at the same time with a Long Sleeper contest. Sounds simple right? The catch was that they needed to do it with the non-dominant hand.

After the non-dominant hand Long Sleeper contest, 5 participants were eliminated, leaving us with 18.

The 18 competitors were:
1) Muhd I'zzun
2) Norman Wee
3) Brian Low
4) Colin Wan
5) Brena Cheong
6) Ian Chia
7) Thawhir Iqbal
8) Hong Aun Lung
9) Kenneth Bay
10) Alexander Teo
11) Khoo Kian Chew
12) Sean Hung
13) Wee Teng Ee
14) Sciran Vikneswaran
15) Ian Loh
16) Karthikeyan
17) Marcus Koh
18) Chua Wei Xuan

From this point, it was a head-to-head elimination with (1) VS (2), (3) VS (4) and so on.

For the first battle, the participants needed to go head-to-head in a Kendama face-off. For the Kendama face-off, we had Razi (of KendamaSG) and Malcolm Chiu (of Duncan Crew Singapore) as facilitators to ensure the tricks were done right.

There were 9 matches, and for some, there were clear winners. For others, there was a fierce back and forth battle. What the participants had to do was to compete against each other in a Kendama mini trick ladder. The trick sequence was Big Cup followed by Small Cup followed by Base Cup followed by Spike followed by Cup to Spike followed by Lighthouse (If they could reach up to this stage).

Competitors had to go one at a time and accomplish the tricks set out in the ladder till one person misses and the other completes the trick. The person who missed would be knocked out.

So after a fiercely contested battle, yet fun with lots of laughter, the final 9 were:
1) Muhd I'zzun
2) Colin Wan
3) Brena Cheong
4) Thawhir Iqbal
5) Kenneth Bay
6) Sean Hung
7) Wee Teng Ee
8) Ian Loh
9) Chua Wei Xuan

Since there were only 9 remaining, and we needed 10 for a head-to-head, the 'knocked out' pool of participants were given a second chance to face off in this very same Kendama ladder and the victor was Khoo Kian Chew, making up the 10th spot in the Quarter Finals!

For the Quarter Finals, the participants had to do something unconventional. Before beginning, they were told to go grab a pair of looping yo-yos. Once they were done, they had to pick just one of the two yo-yos and were told that they needed to go head-to head, seeing which participant could do the most number of Braintwisters on a looping yo-yo.

So the battles were:

1) Muhd I'zzun VS Colin Wan
2) Brena Cheong VS Thawhir Iqbal
3) Kenneth Bay VS Sean Hung
4) Wee Teng Ee VS Ian Loh
5) Chua Wei Xuan VS Khoo Kian Chew

Each of the battles saw the participants share, give tips and help out each other but at the end of the day, there had to be a clear winner from each round and so the 5 that progresses to the 2nd Quarter Finals were:

1) Colin Wan
2) Brena Cheong
3) Sean Hung
4) Wee Teng Ee
5) Chua Wei Xuan

From these 5 Spinners, one needed to be eliminated to make up the Semi-finalists.

So what did they have to do? They were instructed to grab a pair of 1A yo-yos. The catch was it could not be the same yo-yo. So in everyone's mind, the next challenge was going to be a 3A showdown. But yet another curveball was thrown at the competitors when they were told that they needed to use 1 of the 2 1A yo-yos as a counterweight. The trick they had to do was the most number of 360s with one yo-yo spinning, and the other used as a counterweight attached to that yo-yo.

This was a tough challenge that had 2 Spinners (Colin & Brena) with zero 360s done. However, Sean went on to show everyone that this could be done, with eleven 360s! After a quick tie-breaker of another 5A trick challenge (most number of Electric Fans) with 2 1A yo-yos, the final 4 were decided.

So the semi final showdown was:
1) Colin Wan VS Sean Hung
2) Wee Teng Ee VS Chua Wei Xuan

For the semi finals, the head-to-head battle was a simple, yet fun one. The participants had to use Duncan Ignites to see who could 'bowl' the yo-yo the furthest away from the starting line. Simple, Straight-forward and with clear cut winners.

The finalists moving on after the 'bowling' contest were,

Finals: Colin Wan VS Chua Wei Xuan

The winner of the Finals was told that they still had one more showdown after they won, going up against the King of the Spin 2012 - Darrell Mitchell in the final battle.

So for the finals, Colin and Wei Xuan had 3 tries to see who could get the most number of Rocket to the pocket as possible. After a quick decision to see who goes first, Wei Xuan was chosen to be the first. After 3 attempts, with a tough time due to his incredibly skinny jeans, Wei Xuan managed to hit 1 successful Rocket to the pocket. Colin was up next and only had to do 2 Rockets to the pocket to be crowned the winner for the King of the Spin 2013.

With ease, Colin managed to hit 2 Rockets to the pocket with 1 spare attempt.

So the ultimate victor of the 2013 King of the Spin tournament goes to Colin Wan!

The Bonus battle of the night pitted the 2012 Winner Darrell Mitchell against newly crowned 2013 Winner Colin Wan. The challenge was to see who could do the most number of Offstring catches with an Ignite within 3 attempts. After a quick decision on who to go first, Darrell was up. Within the 3 attempts, Darrell managed to hit 2 Offstring catches within the 3 tries. Then, Colin was up. Within his first attempt, Colin managed to hit 2 Offstring catches to tie with Darrell. Needing just 1 more Offstring catch within 2 attempts to be the ultimate winner, as fate would have it, Colin missed both attempt 2 and attempt 3, leaving the battle in a draw. So it was up to sudden death on who hit their offstring catch and who missed.

Darrell going up first, hit his first Offstring catch. With the pressure mounting on Colin, he threw the yo-yo up and down it came, narrowly missing the string and gifting the ultimate King of the Spin to 2012 Winner, Darrell Mitchell.

Once again, congratulations to Darrell, who narrowly beat out Colin in the final Battle, and will go up against the 2014 King of the Spin Winner.

Look out for the next Spinworkx King of the Spin Tournament in 2014!

But before then, there will surely be more fun-filled activities to look forward to and till then, keep Spinning!

photo credits to: Andrew Lin, Colin Wan, Hong Aun Lung & Ko Hwee Ngee

SHOWCASE Vol. 1 Freestyles

1A Champion: Marcus Koh

1A 1st Runner-up: Ian Loh

1A 2nd Runner-up: Thawhir Iqbal

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X Champion: Sean Hung

X 1st Runner-up: Kwan Jun Jie

X 2nd Runner-up: Lee Wei Ting

Check out the rest of the freestyles here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgjCTH_Essz14e2FebL_W2dk4h2aKPPb8

Spinworkx Around the World: Thailand

Back to Thailand we go for a short getaway, plus to grace sOMEThING WORLD Bangkok. Being in Thailand is always fun, seeing how the people of Thailand are friendly, kind and very cultural. Furthermore, the Thai people are united and it is nice to witness the Thai spirit when groups get together for any activity whatsoever.

The Spinning scene in Thailand is growing not just in terms of players, but also skill level. Although, sOMEThING WORLD Bangkok only showcased the 1A aspect, it was nice to see the creativity and unique take on performance that some of the Thai players brought on stage.

During our visit, we also went to the famous weekend Chatukchat market to be all touristy and soak up the atmosphere, food and of course, shopping! Here are some photos of our trip to Bangkok, Thailand for the second time this year.

SHOWCASE Vol. 1 Results

SHOWCASE Vol.1 Sequence

Spinworkx First Mount #19 - Rancid Milk Mount

The Rancid Milk Mount is performed whenever the Spinner is looking to do the trick, Rancid Milk. Originally created by Spencer Berry, Rancid Milk still holds its place as one of the most famous, modern, technical string tricks around. Players around the world still continue to learn and perform Rancid Milk as a staple string trick, and Rancid Milk was formerly used as one of the compulsory tricks in Japan. Again, the Rancid Milk Mount is yet another variation of the Triple or Nothing Mount. This Mount slightly modifies the Triple or Nothing, adding the use of your thumb AND middle finger, making the overall Mount slightly more complicated.

If you have not practiced the Triple or Nothing Mount or the Houdini Triple Mount, we would recommend that you go back and master those before tackling the Rancid Milk Mount. 

Let's see how the Mount goes.

Throw a straight and hard Breakaway, and stick out your non-throwing hand thumb, just like the Houdini Triple Mount. Let the string swing around your thumb and continue over to your throwing hand index finger.

Throughout the duration of the whole trick, keep all your fingers, except your thumb/index fingers, tucked in at all times. If any other fingers are sticking out when performing this trick, the string may catch on other 'sticking-out' fingers and prevent you from hitting the Mount.

Now, with the yo-yo moving from your non-throw hand thumb to your throwing hand index, let the yo-yo string rest on the top of your throw-hand index finger and then allow it to continue around to your non-throw hand middle finger.

Once the yo-yo goes around your non-throw hand middle finger, immediately tuck in that middle finger, with the string wrapped around it (DO NOT let that string segment around your non- throw hand middle finger drop off!!) and stick out your non-throw hand index finger. This step may take some time getting use to due to the strings on different fingers and the need to move out and tuck in various fingers. 

Then, let the yo-yo continue to go around and over to your throwing hand index finger (again). Now, you should see that on your non throwing hand, there is 1 string segment around your thumb and 1 string segment around your middle finger. Your throwing hand should have 2 string segments around your index finger.

Finally, let the yo-yo swing back around to your non-throwing hand index finger and land on the string like how you land a Triple or Nothing.

Once the yo-yo has landed onto the string, bring your hands closer to each other so that the yo-yo sits comfortably on the string without tilting or falling off. At this point in time, your Mount should look exactly like in the following picture.

Rancid Milk Mount

The Rancid Milk Mount is slightly more difficult than the Triple or Nothing and Houdini Triple Mount. If you are not able to pull if off initially, keep working on it and practicing and sooner rather than later, you will be able to perform it consistently.

A few pointers to take note of when learning the Rancid Milk Mount:

1) Tuck in all your fingers that are not needed while performing the Mount so that the string does not get caught where it is not supposed to.

2) Remember to aim and maneuver the yo-yo to precisely where to want it to go. You control the yo-yo movement, don't let the yo-yo control you.

3) If you are having trouble landing the yo-yo while it is spinning, try swinging a 'dead' yo-yo first to gauge the distance apart that your hands need to be to land into the Rancid Milk Mount.

There you have it, #19 of the Spinworkx First Mount project.

If you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note here, or shout out to us at our Facebook page.

You can also show off your Rancid Milk Mount or Rancid Milk trick by tagging us on our Instagram Page, with @spinworkxsg #firstmount. 

Till the next installment,

Keep practicing, keep spinning!~

Spinworkx Trick Collection #5

Yet another gem of a trick from our close friend from Malaysia!